Recipe : Pan Seared Scallops with Chipotle Butter

This is a very quick and easy recipe, that takes less than 10 minutes to put together.

Ingredients :

200 gms cleaned fresh scallops.

2 tbsp butter + few drops oil

2 tbsp garlic chopped fine.

1 tbsp chipotle flakes (substitute - red chilli flakes)

Method:

Rinse scallops and pat them dry with paper towels before cooking. They won't brown if they have too much moisture on the outside.

Heat a little butter in a pan with a few drops of oil (to prevent the butter burning)

Fry some finely chopped garlic in the butter.

Once it crisps up, add some chipotle flakes (chilli flakes can be used, but the chipotle has a sweet smoky flavour, not just heat)

The flakes burn quickly and scallops cook quickly, so you need to move fast.

On high heat, sear the scallops on both sides (a few seconds), then lower the heat and cook gently till they are done (2-4 minutes depending on thickness).

Look for the scallops to  just about turn opaque. If you overcook them, they will become tough.

Take the scallops out of the pan, cook the remaining liquid in the pan until it thickens to a sauce like consistency and pour it over the scallops.

Serve fresh and hot.

Options:

You can make this recipe with fresh prawns or any light fish

Recipe: Manglorean Prawn Masala

I'd defrosted some prawns today, and wanted to make something quick, dryish (not a curry, but with a bit of masala clinging to it) and spicy. I didn't want to fry them as I normally do as I wnated them to be an accompaniment to the rice and rotis and not an appetiser. So I revisited an old favourite. If you have cleaned prawns and meetmirsang on hand, it literally can be ready in 5-10 minutes.

Ingredients:
200gms cleaned prawns (weight after cleaning should be 200gms)
1 tsp vinegar
pinch of salt
2 pinches of turmeric powder
1 tsp coconut oil (you can use regular oil, if coconut isn't available)
1 sprig curry leaves
1 medium sized tomato
1-2 green chillis - optional (add only if you like your food spicy)
1 tbsp meetmirsang masala

Method:
Clean the prawns and lightly toss in a mixture of vinegar, salt and turmeric powder (to get rid of the fishy smell)
Chop the tomatoes and green chillies if using.
Heat the oil in a pan and temper with the curry leaves.
Add chopped tomatoes and green chillies.
When tomatoes are semi cooked, add the meetmirsang and fry until tomatoes are fully cooked.
Now add the prawns.
Stir fry on high heat for 2-5 minutes, depending on size of prawns.
When done, take it off the fire and serve hot with steaming hot rice and saar.

Note:
This dish can also be served as an appetiser, but you may want to decrease the spice by omitting the green chillies.

Recipe: Butter Pepper Garlic Prawns

The prawns at INA market are incredibly fresh and don't need heavy masalas to bring out their flavour. They taste awesome just sauteed in a little butter.

I love garlic and pepper and these 2 flavourings contrast really well with the sweet taste of fresh prawns.

So I combined all of this to make a lovely light, quick and easy dish - Butter Pepper Garlic Prawns

Ingredients:
15 medium sized prawns
1 tbsp salted butter
12-15 cloves of garlic chopped fine
12-15 black peppercorns coarsely pounded
1/2 a lime

Method:
Clean prawns (I marinate seafood in a mix of salt, turmeric powder and vinegar to eliminate some of the smell) Leave the tails on for a fancier presentation.
In a hot pan, add the butter. Add a few drops of olive oil to prevent the milk solids in the butter from burning.
Toss in the cracked/pounded peppercorns.
When they are roasted, add the garlic and saute for awhile until cooked (they don't need to turn brown, they just need to lose their raw taste)
Add prawns and saute quickly, turning once if necessary.
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the prawns.
Serve hot with pasta or hot bread with the juices running.
You can garnish with parsley if you like. But I prefer these basic flavours. (sweet prawn flesh, sour lemon, spicy pepper and salty butter with awesome garlic)

This can also be served as an appetiser or snack with drinks.
This time I just served it with a simple Spaghetti Aglio e Olio e Peperoncino

Note:
My camera is temporarily off to rehab, so pictures are being taken on a phone camera. Hence the colours are not as bright and natural.

Recipe: Fried Chicken Kebab / Chicken Pakoda (Fritters)

This is a quick and easy recipe if you suddenly have someone dropping in for an evening snack or you have just decided to treat yourself and your family.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo chicken
1 or 2 eggs (depending on size)
2 tsps ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp soya sauce
Cornflour to make the batter
chilli sauce to taste
salt to taste
1-2 tsps of rava (semolina) - if you want more of a crunch to the taste.
Vegetable oil to fry
Chopped corriander to garnish

Method:
Make a batter with the eggs, ginger garlic paste, sauces, salt, cornflour and the rava if you are using it. It needs to be a thick consistency where it will give a good coating to the pieces.

Wash the chicken and pat dry. You can use either bite sized bits of boneless chicken which will go well as an appetiser or with drinks or use smaller pieces of chicken with the bone in them.

Marinate chicken in the batter for at least 30 minutes.

In a deep pan, heat oil till very hot.
Deep fry chicken pieces, turning gently half way through.

Note:
Deep frying will give a nice crispy texture.
You can shallow fry it, but then make sure you use thinner pieces of chicken and use less batter on the pieces, else it will turn into a soggy mess.

Serve garnished with Corriander leaves.

Variations:

This recipe can also be used with large sized prawns or bite sized pieces of boneless fish for seafood versions or cauliflower or paneer for a vegetarian version.

Marinate prawns or fish for 15-20 mins in a light mixture of 1/4 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp turmeric powder + 1/2 tsp vinegar, then use this marinade and continue as above.

For cauliflower/paneer, follow the same recipe.

If you want to marinate it overnight, then don't add the eggs, until just before frying, else it will lose its crispiness.

Note : the egg will cause the oil to froth when you start to fry, leave enough depth between the oil and the top of the pan

I won, I won! :)

Remember the recipe I posted a short while ago for Prawn Pakodas for Rushina's pakoda contest?

Many of you loved the recipe, do let me know if you tried it and what changes you made or felt you needed to make (other than reducing the chillies that is) :)

I was one of the 3 winners of the contest. So I guess Rushina and her judges (family) liked it :)

Here's the link to the announcement and links to the recipes of other winners and participants.
http://a-perfect-bite.blogspot.com/2008/08/results-of-hot-and-spicy-pakora-contest.html

Recipe : Prawn Bajjes (Pakodas/Fritters)

Rushina from A perfect bite... is having a Hot and Spicy Pakora contest! This is my first entry for the same. :)

Coming from a Coastal town, Prawn bajjes were an evening treat we relished. They weren't made very often because of the high price of prawns & financial prudence dictated that they were better suited for a curry that would go a longer way especially with potatoes and green mangoes added to the mix.

My sister is visiting and I had promised her some prawn pakodas when she arrived, plus Rushina's contest had me frying some up this evening. It may be monsoon and pakoda time in Coastal India, but its peak summer in Egypt and I don't have airconditioning in my kitchen. Hence this turned out to be evening dinner (I only cook once the sun sets)

Ingredients:
500gms shelled prawns (any size) cleaned & deveined
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
half a lemon (or 1 teaspoon vinegar)
1 medium size onion
4-5 green chillies
10-14 sprigs corriander (cilantro) leaves
250gms besan (chickpea flour) - moderate the quantity as needed.
1 tsp finely chopped ginger (or 1/2 tsp ginger paste)
pinch of soda bicarbonate
salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Clean and devein the prawns thoroughly. Coat them with the turmeric powder and juice from half a lemon and keep for a while. This helps get rid of the strong fishy smell. Add some salt to the prawns to flavour them.

Small sized prawns are best for this dish. I have used larger ones for ease of cleaning. My mum sometimes chops up the prawns if they are too large so the pakodas can be made in smaller bite-sized pieces.

Finely chop the onions, chillies, ginger and coriander leaves. You can use less or more chillies depending on your love for spice.

In the picture above, you can see that my stock of Indian chillies has started to dehydrate, so I was forced to use some of the larger less spicy chillies that are available in Egypt.


Mix all these chopped ingredients into the prawns and mix well.

Slowly add spoons of besan to the prawn mixture and moderate the water to get a batter of dropping consistency.
Add a pinch of soda bicarb to give the pakodas a bit of crispness.
You can add some salt at this stage too, in case you haven't added too much salt to the prawns.

Heat oil in a pan (at least 1 inch of oil in the pan). Since the oil is going to be constantly heated at a high temperature, use an oil which does not go bad on long exposure to high heat.
Corn oil or sunflower oil are good options.

Form the mixture into balls with your hand. (For those not familiar with this Indian technique, you can use the 2 spoons technique used for choux pastry: Take a tablespoon of the mixture, and using another tablespoons, spoon it from one to the other to tighten the ingredients and drop it in the hot oil)
Fry them for a minute or so before turning them over.
Fry on the other side for a minute so till they turn deep brown.
Take them out of the pan with a slotted spoon and drain them.

Serve hot with a spicy and sour green chutney.
Green mango Chutney
Mint Chutney
Coriander Chutney
are all good options.

You can even serve them with tomato sauce, but they won't taste as good.

Serves 3 hungry people :)
Makes about 40 pakodas

Tip: Sometimes there may be a bit of batter and chopped non-prawn stuff left in your vessel. Cut a slice of bread diagonally in half. Dip the bread into that batter and deep fry in the same oil.

Recipe : Perizaad Zorabian's mothers recipe for Prawn Pilaf (Pulao)

Found this recipe floating in cyberspace and tried it out, it was quite good.

1kg basmati rice
pinch of saffron
1/2 tsp red color
juice of 1 lemon
8 tbsp oil
3 large onions
8 cloves
8 flakes garlic
1 tsp jeera powder
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp corriander+ jeera powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
4 green chillies
1 kg prawns shelled
3 large tomatoes
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp brown vinegar
salt to taste
4 tbsp ghee
a handful of freshly chopped corriander for garnish
4 halved hard boiled eggs, halved
onion slices to serve

Parboil the rice in salted water, drain and set aside.
Add saffron, colour and lemon juice to the rice.
Heat oil in a large pan.
Grind the cloves and garlic to a paste.
Add chopped onion, cloves garlic paste, jeera, chilli powder, dhania-jeera powder, turmeric powder and sliced green chillies. Fry till cooked.
Add washed and lightly squeezed prawns and fry for 5 minutes
Add chopped tomato, sugar, vinegar and salt and simmer till prawns are cooked.

To assemble the pilau, grease a degchi (broad based heavy pan) with the ghee.
Add a layer of rice, a layer of the prawn mix and another layer of rice on top.
Melt the remaining ghee and pour over the rice.
Cover the degchi and let the pilau cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes.
Garnish with chopped corriander and boiled eggs.
Serve with sliced onions.